- U.S. Supply chains around the world continue to be vulnerable to interruptions or disruptions and it’s expected to take long into next year until there is a stabilization in freight rates.
- Heading into Golden Week, the eight-day holiday in the first week of October in China, more sailings are expected to be cancelled as manufacturers will be shut down so less trade will move out of the ports.
- The next phase of the IMO program to reduce carbon emissions in maritime will take vessels out of rotation, putting more put pressure on freight prices.
Peak season for ocean freight is underway and DHL Global Forwarding says it’s way too early to declare a softening in trade volumes and a decrease in congestion.
“We are not yet really out of the woods when it comes to congestion,” said Goetz Alebrand, Ocean Freight Head for the Americas region of DHL Global Forwarding. “The supply chains that are ocean based around the world, are very, very vulnerable to these interruptions or disruptions so it’s really difficult to say right now how these disruptions will impact overall volumes.”
The maritime and logistics industry has been in a continuous loop of problems fueling congestion. Land capacity issues creating port and terminal congestion, a lack of railcars, and the unavailability of truckers and chassis have impacted all trade participants.
The National Government of Colombia has issued decree 2142 on December 23, 2016 in order to control the import and export of smart mobile phones, cellular mobile phones and their parts, and has left the DIAN in charge of its regulation.